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Finlay Freundlich
Times obituary
Professor E. Finlay-Freundlich, formerly Napier Professor of Astronomy at the University of St. Andrews, died on July 24 at Wiesbaden, where he had his home. He was 79.
Finlay-Freundlich was probably the last surviving of those of Einstein's contemporaries who played leading parts in the initial development and presentation of relativity theory. Because of his early association with Einstein and his own intellectual stature, aided by an appearance and bearing to match, Freundlich enjoyed a lifelong prestige in this field. About 1919, Einstein referred to him as "the first among fellow scientists who has taken pains to put the theory to the test." This description could have been more justly applied to A. S. Eddington in England, but it does indicate Freundlich's ruling scientific interest.
As a professional astronomer, he had opportunities to make his own tests of relativity and to assess those made by others. He concluded that Einstein's general relativity gives good agreement with observation in the case of purely gravitational phenomena, but, in the case of light propagation, he thought that agreement with observation is not good. Indeed, he became somewhat notorious for opposing most other astronomers, who think that eclipse observations of the bending of light near the sun give satisfactory support to the theory.
As regards the so-called gravitational redshift of light from the sun and stars, Freundlich took an even more revolutionary view. In 1954, he suggested that the observations are influenced by another effect as well, a hitherto unrecognized action of light upon light. Recent developments make it important to reexamine Freundlich's contention, even though any possible new effect is certainly not as large as he estimated.
Erwin Finlay-Freundlich was born in Germany on May 29, 1885. He began his scientific career in Göttingen and Berlin, and in 1921 he became director of the Einstein Institute in Berlin. He left Germany in 1933 in protest against Nazi rule, and he was professor of astronomy for three years in Istanbul and for one year in Prague before settling in Scotland in 1939. He was appointed Napier Lecturer and subsequently Professor in Astronomy at St. Andrews University, where he remained until his final retirement in 1959
Freundlich was one of the most versatile astronomers. He had extensive knowledge of instruments and created modern observatories in Potsdam, Istanbul, and St. Andrews. He took part in solar eclipse expeditions, but it was a sad disappointment to him and his friends that the 1954 eclipse in Sweden, for which he had made the most elaborate preparations, was clouded out. In St. Andrews, especially, Freundlich brought together an active and varied group of research workers. He was very much the "Herr Professor" with a deep awareness of the significance of the tremendous scientific developments in which he had taken some share over a long life. St. Andrews took pride in ranking him among its characters -- and St. Andrews has exact standards.
In 1913, he married Kate Hirschberg, and they had one son and one daughter.
Professor E. Finlay-Freundlich, formerly Napier Professor of Astronomy at the University of St. Andrews, died on July 24 at Wiesbaden, where he had his home. He was 79.
Finlay-Freundlich was probably the last surviving of those of Einstein's contemporaries who played leading parts in the initial development and presentation of relativity theory. Because of his early association with Einstein and his own intellectual stature, aided by an appearance and bearing to match, Freundlich enjoyed a lifelong prestige in this field. About 1919, Einstein referred to him as "the first among fellow scientists who has taken pains to put the theory to the test." This description could have been more justly applied to A. S. Eddington in England, but it does indicate Freundlich's ruling scientific interest.
As a professional astronomer, he had opportunities to make his own tests of relativity and to assess those made by others. He concluded that Einstein's general relativity gives good agreement with observation in the case of purely gravitational phenomena, but, in the case of light propagation, he thought that agreement with observation is not good. Indeed, he became somewhat notorious for opposing most other astronomers, who think that eclipse observations of the bending of light near the sun give satisfactory support to the theory.
As regards the so-called gravitational redshift of light from the sun and stars, Freundlich took an even more revolutionary view. In 1954, he suggested that the observations are influenced by another effect as well, a hitherto unrecognized action of light upon light. Recent developments make it important to reexamine Freundlich's contention, even though any possible new effect is certainly not as large as he estimated.
Erwin Finlay-Freundlich was born in Germany on May 29, 1885. He began his scientific career in Göttingen and Berlin, and in 1921 he became director of the Einstein Institute in Berlin. He left Germany in 1933 in protest against Nazi rule, and he was professor of astronomy for three years in Istanbul and for one year in Prague before settling in Scotland in 1939. He was appointed Napier Lecturer and subsequently Professor in Astronomy at St. Andrews University, where he remained until his final retirement in 1959
Freundlich was one of the most versatile astronomers. He had extensive knowledge of instruments and created modern observatories in Potsdam, Istanbul, and St. Andrews. He took part in solar eclipse expeditions, but it was a sad disappointment to him and his friends that the 1954 eclipse in Sweden, for which he had made the most elaborate preparations, was clouded out. In St. Andrews, especially, Freundlich brought together an active and varied group of research workers. He was very much the "Herr Professor" with a deep awareness of the significance of the tremendous scientific developments in which he had taken some share over a long life. St. Andrews took pride in ranking him among its characters -- and St. Andrews has exact standards.
In 1913, he married Kate Hirschberg, and they had one son and one daughter.
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